Again with the collards

M suggested a couple of days ago that we could probably get by with one collard green plant in the veggie garden next year, and I agreed. The plants have been highly prolific - we could probably eat collards three days a week, every week, throughout the season with the output we’ve gotten. As it is, we are hard-pressed to keep up.

So: collards! Eight fairly large leaves’ worth, about six cups shredded. What to do this time?

Well, if you’re Phil Barron, you weigh out a pound of partially cooked smoked pork neck bones. Mmmm. Say it again: smoked pork neck bones.

You tear or cut away chunks of pork from the bone. Don’t worry; it’s all going into the pot.

Ingredients assembled. You smash the garlic cloves with the flat of a chef’s knife. You’ve been into smashing garlic rather than chopping or mincing because you’re lazy and impatient, and because you just like smashing things. You do chop up half of an onion. Also on hand: olive oil, flaked red pepper, a couple of cans of low-sodium chicken broth (not pictured, oddly).

You pull out your beloved Dutch oven. In goes three tablespoons of oil, the garlic, the onions, the pork and bones. Saute for five minutes or so over medium-ish heat. Then you add the collards and stir it up in the oil and stuff. Then add the broth and an eighth of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Also a pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper. You consider adding more red pepper, but you’re kind of gutless.

You put the lid on the Dutch oven and let it all simmer for forty minutes. In the meantime, you cook up some arborio rice and grill a couple of pork steaks.

This next photo is not the full fully cooked dish, because you’ve already eaten some and you forgot to take a picture earlier. That’s the problem with photo-documenting your own cooking; you start thinking of the food instead of the camera. Anyway, take a look at that luscious pot liquor!

Before the verdict, things I would have done differently:

• I would have struggled to make myself use less than a pound of neck bones, but I could easily have doubled the amount of collards to accompany it.
• Smoked, partially cooked pork neck bones = a plentiful amount of sodium before you even add one grain of salt. I didn’t have a problem with the amount of saltiness in the dish - takes a lot of sodium to turn me off -but your mileage may vary. I might suggest using no-sodium broth. (Is there such a thing, canned? You could always make your own broth, but isn’t that like making your own clothes? Heh. I kid.) At the least, no need at all to add kosher salt.
• Not as much heat as I’d thought. Next time, I’ll add more red pepper flakes.

And now, the verdict: Dee. Lish. Us. My God, it was good. Savory, mouth-filling flavor, the greens done just so - cooked, tender, but not overly done. Damn, I thought, this is real food. I was afraid that my wife might find it a little salty, but when I saw M go back for seconds on the collards and rice, I knew it was all good. Finished it up the next day; it’s even better, somehow, as leftovers.

My mother would be So. Proud. Of. Me.

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